


Wonders Never Cease

by Unforth



Series: Prompt Ficlets: Yuri on Ice [7]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Magic, But He Gets Better, M/M, Mutual Pining, Sharing a Bed, Teacher-Student Relationship, Yuri Gets Turned Into a Cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-06-06 12:06:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15194432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unforth/pseuds/Unforth
Summary: Victor has no idea how to fix what went wrong with the spell Yuri was trying to cast.





	Wonders Never Cease

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EHyde](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EHyde/gifts).



> Tumglr ficlet that got out of control, written to the prompt: historical au + magical accidents for Victuuri?

“Well,  _that_ went wrong,” coughed Victor, waving a hand before his face to clear away smoke. A  crackling suggested the floor boards were on fire; he snapped his fingers and dissipated the heat into the stone of the fireplace. “Are you alright?”

No answer.

“Yuri?”

No answer.

Frowning, Victor puffed out his cheeks, gathered some ambient magic to himself, and blew out. The smoke dissipated instantly, revealing the ruined room: bookshelves over turned, windows shattered, papers drifting to the floor, a starburst blackened over the conjuring symbol Yuri had drawn…

…and no Yuri.

“Ods bodikins,” muttered Victor, raking a hand through his hair.

What the  _hell_ had possessed him to take an apprentice?

Well, perhaps the problem was solved. The spell had backfired as badly as it appeared to have, Yuri was likely banished to another plain.

“Good riddance,” Victor said with a sigh, but there was no spirit to it. His chest ached with guilt and concern. Yuri was…

_…great, beautiful, brilliant, dedicated, sweet, observant, wonderful…_

…Yuri was Victor’s responsibility and had been since his apprenticeship began three years ago, on Yuri’s 15th birthday.

Yuri was definitely, absolutely  _not_ the object of his affection.

That would be completely inappropriate.

And, if Yuri had been banished to who-knew-where, ludicrously depressing as well.

Heaving another sigh, Victor surveyed the mess, deciding where to begin to clean it up. His desk needed attention. His papers would be essential reference for the computations necessary to undo Yuri’s misfire, so he might as well start there. He took a step towards it and–

“Mew.”

–and now he was hallucinating. Fantastic. It was a miracle he could hear  _anything_ , with how loud the explosion had been.

“Mew!”

The sound was small, petite, adorable, but louder now that he was closer to his desk.

“Mew…mew…mew…”

Definitely a cat.

They didn’t have a cat.

Had Yuri banished himself  _and_ summoned a cat?

Victor dropped to a squat before the desk, peering beneath. A kitten, sleek and black, huddled under the chair. It startled when Victor faced it, hopped backward, arched its back, bared its claws, and hissed.

“Come on, pussy,” Victor said with resignation. “We need to get you back to wherever you came from.”

It hissed again, baring sharp white teeth. Victor rolled his eyes, reached beneath the desk, and grabbed it.

“Mew!!” It clawed at air, frantic, shaking with fear, and Victor’s guilt increased, but what choice did he have? He had to capture the damn thing.

Maybe, with the cat in hand, Victor would be able to negotiate an exchange with whatever netherworld denizens had Yuri.

“Let’s get you some milk.”

Something clattered to the ground.

Yuri’s glasses.

Fabric was bunched farther beneath the chair, brown, coarse, suspiciously similar to the robes Yuri had worn for the summoning ritual.

The cat was black…dark eyes…juvenile but not newborn…bizarrely familiar, now that Victor really considered it’s features…terrified…

“Oh hell,” Victor groaned. Claws raked over the back of his hand and hissed in pain, tightening his grip. “None of that!” he snapped. “Just…just calm down, Yuri, we’ll figure this out.”

The mew that answered him was especially pathetic.

Damn, Victor hoped milk would calm Yuri down.

* * *

“I don’t know how to fix you,” said Victor, slumping in his chair in exhaustion. Yuri lifted his head, ears twitching, shook out his fur, and returned to lapping at his milk. “I hope you like mice, because I fear the change is permanent. Though…” He shook his head. “Yakov is more skilled at transfiguration than I am. In the morning, we can hire a carriage and horses and go to Minsk to consult him. Until then…”

Victor pressed his palms into his aching, gritty eyes. 

Until Yuri was a man again, there was no damn point in explaining things to a cat.

Stifling a yawn, Victor went through his evening routine by rote, realizing belatedly all the things he had to do himself because Yuri wasn’t there to help.

Victor shut the windows. Usually, Yuri locked them.

Victor cleaned up their paraphernalia. Usually, Yuri swept.

Victor reorganized the books. Usually, Yuri selected one to read by candlelight.

Yuri was his apprentice, yes, but Yuri was also his shadow, his partner, his roommate, his friend, his l…

Victor squelched that thought. Whatever his feelings for Yuri, they were best left locked away.

The cat watched Victor impassively, disinterestedly, occasionally stretching out a leg to lick or twisting to groom his stomach.

‘strewth, if Victor wasn’t able to return Yuri to his proper form…

Glum, Victor did his usual chores, did everything he’d long taken for granted that Yuri would do. He ached - with fatigue, with guilt, with worry, with longing…

Yuri  _belonged_  with him.

No…that wasn’t right…that couldn’t be right. There relationship was close, but it was improper for Victor to see it as anything but a mentor/protege situation. They weren’t - couldn’t be - more than that to each other.

Besides, Yuri couldn’t possibly want that kind of relationship with Victor.

Taking a single candle from the candelabra that lit the room, Victor extinguished the others and carried the flame with him to the loft. A soft  _thump_  and the scuff of paws on wood suggested the cat moving as well, but the room was in deep shadows and Victor didn’t catch a hint of movement. There was a blanket on Victor’s chair, Yuri’s robes in a pile by the door to be washed, some pillowed benches in the salon, surely the creature could make itself at home and comfortable in one of those places. While Yuri showed no signs of understanding he was Yuri, or recognizing Victor, he’d seemed perfectly comfortable being a cat. So, Victor should let him be a cat.

_…but shouldn’t I keep him close, keep him safe? It’s not a creature. It’s Yuri._

_It’s. a. cat._

Victor let out a dissipirited breath and collapsed onto his bed in the loft. Exhaustion rolled him under as soon as his head hit the pillow, the only discordant note a tingling brush of fur againt his hand, a small form tucking itself beneath his arm.

Probably his imagination.

* * *

The bed was  _warm_. Mumbling sleepily, Victor shimmied closer to the source of the heat - a solid something against his side. Sluggish, more asleep than awake, he relished the presence, adored the signs that it was another person - the softness of skin, the rise and fall of a back with each inhale and exhale, the radiating comfort of hot flesh, the dull  _thu-thump_ of a heart beat…when was the last time Victor hadn’t woken up alone? It had been so long, and he was so comfortable, so content, and–

Panic evaporated drowsiness. Victor pushed himself up and away from whoever was with him so quickly that he tumbled off the pallet, landing on his butt with a thud. Cold air surrounded him. Breathing rapidly, fear and confusion battling for supremacy, he blinked bleary eyes, trying to make out details in the gray light of early morning.

“Whassit?” mumbled a confused voice. 

Victor had the faint memory of going to sleep with a cat. 

The blankets shifted, the lumpy form of a human rolled over, and… 

“Yuri!”

…and Yuri was definitely not a cat any longer.

Sleep-disheveled, Yuri was  _gorgeous_ , hair a mess, eyes unfocused. The blanket slid away to reveal bare flesh, pale in the moonlight, lithe and muscular. Every inappropriate thought Victor had ever repressed about his apprentice sprang to instant, explicit life.

“Wha’sa’matter?”

“You’re…you’re…”  _You’re perfect. You’re beautiful. You’re everything I want in a partner, and I mean every possible interpretation of the word “partner.” You’re…_  “You’re not a cat.”

“Why’d I be a cat?” How much Yuri remembered was a question for another time. Victor could manage no answer; he shook his head, trying not to stare at the dark hair pointing like an arrow down Yuri’s belly towards his crotch. “‘m cold,” Yuri added petulantly. “Come back.”

 _Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes…_  “I, um, I don’t think that would be appropriate…”

“ _Cold_ ,” Yuri repeated. He patted the bed beside him.

“But–”

“Now!”

Speechless, Victor could only obey, and hope that when Yuri was more awake, he wouldn’t blame Victor or accuse him of taking advantage. He tentatively rose, climbed onto the bed, and carefully lay along the edge, as far from Yuri as possible. Yuri huffed a dissatisfied noise, rolled over, and draped himself over Victor, nearly pushing them both on to the floor once more.

“Yuri–”

“Know you don’t see me this way,” Yuri breathed in Victor’s ear. “S’ok. But something’s wrong…feel weird…so cold…please stay? Just for the night? We’ll talk tomorrow?”

_I…don’t see him…how?_

“Yes…” said Victor, stunned. “We have a lot to talk about.”

The answer seemed to satisfy Yuri; he snuggled somehow closer, draped an arm over Victor’s shoulder and back, and fell immediately into the slow, easy rhythm of deep sleep.

Smiling despite his worries, Victor pet a hand soothingly down Yuri’s spine. There was no hope of him sleeping a wink with Yuri atop him and his butt hanging over the edge of the bed, but he didn’t mind.

Yuri wanted to be near him.

Yuri wanted to talk.

Inconceivably, Yuri being turned into a cat might yet be the best thing that had ever happened to either of them.

Wonders never cease…


End file.
